The sanctuary is to be adorned with poinsettias beginning November 27 and continuing through December 18 in anticipation of the holiday season with two plants being placed on the altar each Sunday. The Worship Ministry Team is seeking members to bring a red poinsettia on the Sundays preceding Christmas to be placed on the altar. If you wish to contribute in this manner, please sign up on the Flower Calendar in the hallway adjacent to the music director’s office. Contributors may remove their plant following the service and take it home with them. The church will provide two white poinsettias for the Christmas Eve service.
The poinsettia’s association with Christmas began in 16th century Mexico. Legend has it that a young girl, too poor to provide a gift for the celebration of Jesus’ birthday, gathered weeds from the roadside and placed them before the church altar as her gift. Crimson blossoms sprouted from the weeds as the poinsettias blossomed. Beginning in the 17th century, Franciscan friars in Mexico included the plants in their Christmas celebrations noting that the star-shaped leaf pattern symbolized the Star of Bethlehem and the red color represented the blood of the cricified Christ.
The plant was first introduced to the United States in 1825 when Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first US minister to Mexico, brought some of the plants home from their native Central American locale. The bright red coloration of the leaves is often forced in order to produce the wanted coloration which will occur naturally when the plant experiences at least twelve hours of darkness followed by bright sunlight for at least five consecutive days.